Fired Up Over Pelisek; Marking Down Cooper

Firefighting WordsI'm really dismayed as to why simple logic hasn't been applied to the issue of women firefighters which Christine Pelisek wrote about ["Firehouse Flameout," Jan. 25-31]. If every firefighting organization in the world started with the basic premise that women and men are physically different, all of these problems would go away. Do we see women competing in the NFL, the NBA or Major League Baseball? Of course not. This should not be about equal strength and ability across the gender line, but about building a well-run machine with different parts, where each part has its own strength and purpose. Obviously, women should not have to carry heavy ladders and bodies. Enough with this one-size-fits-all mentality.

Dennis MartinezLos Angeles

Regarding the story "Firehouse Flameout": How ironic that L.A. Weekly, which has pushed social engineering for as long as I can recall, is suddenly pointing fingers at Jackie Goldberg. And wow, what a surprise, another one of Jackie's wacky social-engineering dreams has crashed and burned. Gee, who could have seen that one coming?

Answer: Anyone who doesn't buy into the far-left agenda (of both Goldberg and L.A. Weekly) which seeks above all else (even public safety) to prove that men and women are the same, except for those differences imagined by the hateful, bigoted middle class!

Michael AllenLos Angeles

Christine Pelisek has done an out­standing job of revealing the truth about the failed recruiting policies of the LAFD. This story should be a reality check for those who want to dictate who gets hired and when, without ever having spent a day in a fire truck or an ambulance learning what an extremely challenging job it really is. Kudos to Pelisek for yet another outstanding story, and to L.A. Weekly for having the courage to run it!

Posted Jan. 24 by Reality Check

Wow, another doozy by Scoop Pelisek! What's next? "L.A. Weekly has learned that handicapped toilets in over half the city's Denny's diners are not being used more than six times a year, at staggering taxpayer cost."

Posted Jan. 25 by Anonymous Coward

Why is it we are the only local force that continues to use ridiculously heavy wood ladders when almost every other local force has switched to fiberglass or aluminum? The LAFD's ladders have to be specially made and cost taxpayers significantly more than needed. Could it be this is yet another way to try and keep women off the job? And if 90 percent of the calls the LAFD gets a year are EMS-related as opposed to structure fires, why do they need such excessive standards?

I've proudly served the citizens of L.A. for 18 years. I have never trivialized the physical and emotional demands of my job ... I've read articles and felt backlash and hatred in the past. Your article was the worst. You've grouped all women of the LAFD together. This article has the potential of setting the department back 20 years and creating greater division between male and female firefighters.

Posted Jan. 28 by A Proud Woman on the LAFD

Unfair GradeI would like to comment on "Grading the Campaigns," by Marc Cooper [Feb. 1-7]. I am so sorry somebody, somewhere — perhaps in Nevada, where volunteers rose at 5 a.m., worked 15 hours a day combating virulent, voter-fraud-laden Hillary caucusers — forgot to return the writer's phone call. And I am so glad that he, when voting Obama as having the most "inefficient" campaign, cited that he did in fact like the "movement" feel of the "young green" volunteers.

For the past three months I have volunteered on the Obama campaign with the hardest-working, most compassionate and patient group of people I have ever known. In one day last week, we made over 13,000 calls from our Venice headquarters, getting out the vote, just so someone like your Mr. Cooper would be able to report on some­thing truly spectacular, instead of having to sadly throw together a dreary 3 a.m. "piece" that didn't even have the nerve to be really very mean.

Francesca McCafferySanta Monica

CorrectionIn an item about the Zero One Gallery opening in the Nightranger column ["Wild Gifts," Jan. 25-31], longtime underground-music scenester Greg "the Pope" Romero's name was listed incorrectly. Our apologies to Romero.